Hi there all! This is a truly excellent forum - I'm so happy I happened upon it! I have a bit of an odd request/question. I'm a artist, and will soon be doing a kind of 'art piece' with a few collaborators, where we try and sustain ourselves on a fast growing plant via a local 'ecosystem'. The idea is to try and create a localized energy and resource economy, to highlight the other, more global economies of this type. In any case - we need a very quick growing, edible and possibly nutrient rich plant that grows well in hydroponic systems. I was wondering if someone on this list might have an incling as to which plant or groups of plants would be worth further research. My research thus far seems to suggest that radishes are the fastest growing common garden vegetable, and kudzu seems to be a very fast growing edible green. I had assumed something in the soy-bean family, or some kind of wheat grass, potentially? As a somewhat extreme example - is there a plant out there that, under the right circumstances, would grow enough plant material, daily to support a person's daily nutritional needs for a few days? Any help at all you could lend would be much appreciated - thanks so much for humoring this odd question! Cheers, Jamie
Radishes or another brassicant would probably be your best bet - the greens are also edible, so you've actually got a food source while you wait for the tubers to get large enough. If you approach the situation as a fast in the correct way, though, you could likely do it with hydroponic butter lettuce. If you weren't in the UK, I'd reccomend something like Papaya, which grows very quickly, has edible leaves (steamed), and produces fruit fairly quickly, although not as fast as you'd need it unless you were starting with fairly mature plants (1 year old plus). If you're able too cook, maybe look into Taro (Alocasia) - that's edible greens and roots, but again, with steaming/boiling.
Jamie Using art to explore this is issue is great. I would not recommend the introducing and promoting the alien (to the UK) vine, kudzu. Although the UK isn't considered tropical, the kudzu vine is considered a weed - http://geography.about.com/library/misc/uckudzu.htm. For fast nutrition, maybe you need to look up the food chain??? bugs?
Kudzu would be safe to grow, as it isn't hardy outdoors in Britain, but you'd need to grow it in a greenhouse to get enough summer heat. Otherwise, maybe tomatoes (leaves not edible of course), or oilseed rape? PS whereabouts in Newcastle are you?
Hi all, Thanks all for your responses - still seems to be an open question. I'm always surprised that these things haven't been figured out by someone wishing to set up a space station or similar! The site of the growing will not be in Newcastle - I'll be doing the bulk of the setup in Japan. I'm hoping for something that I can grow anywhere using an appropriate hydroponics setup - so climate independent, although I suppose I could create whatever climate necessary using grow rooms, convering and lighting? (I'm in the city center of Newcastle, currently... :) Any other ideas? Cheers, Jamie
well - although Japan is a first placement for this thing - i'm planning on moving this stuff around to different parts of our green globe... so really something that is location non-specific (hydroponic, self contained) is best...
I would have to say Cattail (Typha latifolia). I planted 3 cattails in a pond last year and now I have over 300. Cattail is the super-market of nature. The rhizomes are full of starch. The inner stalk can be eaten as a vegetable (it tastes kind of like cucumber/zucchini). The pollen can be a nutritional additive in flour. The green male part of the flower or punk can be boiled and eaten like corn on the cob. I have read that the seeds can be parched and either made into a flour or gruel. In addition to that the fluff serves as very good insulation and tinder. Cattails also clean and oxygenate the water. The leaves can be weaved to make mats. Though is takes a year to establish, Typha latifolia is very productive and tenacious due to its spreading matrix of roots that constantly make many more shoots. Right on for incorporating plants into art. I am a metal sculptor and intend to use the anatomy of plants as inspiration.
Typha latifolia is Bulrush: http://ip30.eti.uva.nl/BIS/flora.php?selected=beschrijving&menuentry=soorten&id=4718
yeah - i caught that discussion. seems again like a bit of an open question there... and seaweed might be harder to grow logistically... but maybe worth a shot! i'll look again, thanks!
